Less than 24 hours before the execution, Nirbhaya Convict Mukesh moves SC to seek justice

A day ahead of Nirbhaya rape and murder cases convicts' execution, convict Mukesh Singh's lawyer, on Thursday filed a petition before the Registrar of the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing in the matter.

The petition filed by Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, through the petition, sought directions to bring call records, documents and reports of his client through any probe agency and passed appropriate directions and measures to ensure justice in the matter.

However, the petition does not seek a stay on the March 20 execution. The petition is expected to be taken up for hearing today. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court dismissed the curative petition filed by convict Pawan Kumar Gupta challenging the dismissal of his claim of juvenility at the time of the offence.

READ | Nirbhaya Case: SC rejects convict Pawan's juvenility claim curative plea on eve of the hanging

Nirbhaya convicts scheduled to hang on March 20

Earlier on Tuesday, the NHRC dismissed the plea of convict Mukesh’s mother to stay his death penalty. Pawan is one of the three convicts in the Nirbhaya case who has also moved the International Court of Justice, seeking a stay on the execution of the death sentence. As a matter of fact, the four rapists have exhausted all their legal remedies with the dismissal of their curative and mercy petitions.  

Incidentally, a three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna had already dismissed the juvenile plea of Pawan on January 20. Gupta had moved the SC against the Delhi High Court order which reaffirmed that Gupta was not a juvenile when he committed the ghastly crime on December 16, 2012. On March 5, Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana of Patiala House Court issuing fresh death warrants for the Nirbhaya convicts setting March 20, 5.30 am as the time of execution.  

READ | Nirbhaya convict Akshay's wife files for divorce as he files 2nd mercy plea before hanging

What is the Nirbhaya rape and murder case? 

A 23-year-old paramedic student Nirbhaya was gang-raped inside a running bus by six persons on December 16, 2012, in Delhi. The victim was severely assaulted and thrown out on the road along with her male friend and succumbed to injuries a few days later. Out of the six convicts, one reportedly committed suicide in prison, while another, a juvenile, served maximum punishment of three years in a reform home and was set free in 2015. The remaining four rapists were convicted and handed the death penalty by a trial court in 2013, confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014. The Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court's verdict in 2017. 

READ | Nirbhaya case: NHRC dismisses convict Mukesh's plea seeking intervention in execution

READ | Tihar will pay Rs 60,000 to hangman Pawan to execute Nirbhaya convicts

(With inputs from ANI)